Ask For Me
by AnneLea
Summary: Hunk has a crush on someone. He needs Shiro's advice.
1. Chapter 1

"So... um... Shiro?"

The man called upon looked up from his food to the nervous teen before him. "Yes, Hunk?"

"I uh... I have a problem."

He figured that out already, but he would indulge the boy. Shiro gestured for him to continue.

So, yeah, as I was saying... I have a problem. See, there's somebody I like. Somebody I _like_ like. I want to kiss this person."

Oh no. No. He was not prepared for this one. No wonder why Hunk was so nervous. He had to know, right?

"The problem is... I'm a lot bigger than this person. I tried it really fast one time, but they were running and dodged without me catching them."

Okay, great. It wasn't kid was definitely a big guy, but Shiro was _not_ considerably smaller. "Does this person know you're interested in them?"

"Well, I thought they did, but I'm, like, completely stuck in the friend-zone, man. I thought, maybe, if I just kissed them, then they'd get the picture... And I failed."

"You really should just try talking to them. It could probably go bad really fast for you if you just try to kiss them like that. Sounds to me like you dodged a bullet... well, they dodged it for you."

"Yeah, I realized that after the fact," a forlorn Hunk sighed, sitting beside him at last. "I was hoping, maybe, _you_ could say something to them for me? Maybe just ask how they feel about me?"

Shiro laughed a little. "I tried that once. Actually, what I tried doing was getting them together myself."

"Oh? How did that go?"

"I conviced Keith to talk to the girl. I really thought she might go for it. Instead, she punched him, huffed about already having a boyfriend, and stomped off."

Hunk paled a little. "That 'she' wouldn't happen to be Pidge, would it?"

Shiro nodded, swallowing a spoonfull of soup. "I can't figure out if she was telling the truth or not. After what she did to Keith, I didn't want her mistaking my questioning as personal interest in her."

"So... how should I go about talking to her if you are scared?"

Shiro thought on that a bit. "Aren't you two already close? I mean, you already have a superhero duo nickname, right? Lance said it was 'Punk' or something?"

"Yeah. She came up with that. Awesome, right?"

Shiro smiled a little. "And Sam said you two were arguing like he and his wife used to... Maybe there is something there you could exploit? Maybe ask her if she has a boyfriend, because, if she does, you'll kick his ass if he hurts her?"

"Hey... That might work! But, wouldn't that just show her how much more of a friend I am? A brotherly friend? I so don't want that!"

"But you'll get the answer we both are looking for. You'll know if she has a boyfriend already, or not. Besides you, the only other plausible person is Lance, and he's still chasing Allura's tail."

"Not without success!" Hunk raised a finger in the air. "I actually saw her allow him to hug her."

"She's done that before."

"And kiss her on the cheek? Because, he did that, and she didn't punch him!"

Shiro's smile returned for a moment. "That's good news. Now, the way my boyfriend got me is _exactly_ what I'm proposing you do. First, figure out if she's already taken. If she's not, it's time for the second step of offering yourself. Gently, I might add. Tell her that if she decides she does want a boyfriend, that you are willing."

"Is there a third step if she doesn't have a boyfriend, but doesn't take me as one?"

"Lots, and lots of gifts. Adam was great at finding the little things that I liked which was very endearing, obvious, but not pressing."

"Wait... Who's Adam?"

Shiro shook his head. Hunk was so focused on figuring out Pidge that he didn't catch the admission earlier, thus he was totally lost when Adam's name came up. "The man whose tactics I'm trying to teach you. I heard you were doing good on the written parts of class from him, but failed at being a pilot when you got into the simulator. You threw up on his shoes. I had to clean them."

"Oh, so, you two were room mates?"

Shiro dropped his head. "You know what? Maybe it is better if I talk to Pidge for you."

Hunk was inwardly cheering. He didn't have to confront her himself at all! Playing stupid for just a moment worked!


	2. Chapter 2

Gifts. Right. They were on a mad dash back to Earth, barely had time for a meal or a nap, and he was supposed to find gifts. For Pidge. On the fly, pun intended. He had gotten her some stuff. Little technological bits, but nothing she really had time to figure out. What was something practical he could get and she would have the time for?

He was sweatting over this, looking through what little he could afford to trade on this planet that might have some form of value to the natives, when she snuck up behind him.

"Guess what! Guess what!"

Hunk jumped and hit his head on the ceiling. With a yelp, he cradled his now bruised scalp in his hands, wishing he had a pair to cradle his bruised ego, too. It seemed she was far too excited to notice, though. Her smile was wide as she babbled on about a recent discovery. Somehow, she had figured out how to combine some of his gifts from different solar syetems into a power source. It wasn't big enough to work for the Lions, but it was almost perfect for the two healing pods they had brought along. Actually, it was almost too powerful for both of them at the same time while empty.

"That's great news!" he scooped her up in a hug, spinning them around in the small space. "How did you find the time to do that?"

"Ow, ow OW! Put me down!" Pidge cried out.

Hunk nearly dropped her. She collapsed to the floor, holding her ankle. "I'm sorry! So sorry! Oh, my god. You're hurt! What did I do?"

Pidge started laughing, still clinging to her injury. "This is great! You got hit on the head, and I got a bruised ankle!"

"How, exactly is that a great thing?" Hunk straightened up, squinting at her. "Are you sure you're not the one who hit your head?"

"No, no! It's perfect! Now we can have a short, controled test of the new power source! We can be the test subjects!"

"Uh... I think I'll just let my head heal on its own, thank you." At her disappointed look, he added, "It's nothing major. We need to take care of and deal with whatever we can. We don't know when we might need those pods for heavy damage."

"But we need to test them on something! We can't just test them out on a life or death sittuation first time!"

"Well, we can wait for Lance to break his arm again... or something. But I'm not going to do it for a bump on the head."

"Does my ankle count?" She finally lifted her hands away.

That urge to puke that he used to get when flying, or just in the simulator was back with a vengeance. There was blood. There was a bit of bone sticking out. How the hell was she so damn calm? She had to feel that, right?

"I'll take the fact that you're turning green to be a yes. Now, you broke it. You get to carry me to the healing pods without puking all over me!"

On the way to the pods, Pidge explained why she didn't feel the pain in her ankle. His hug was tight, and that is why she cried out. She'd seen the injury and didn't want to alarm him, and that's why she hid it. As it turned out, she had sustained an injury days after they had arrived on Arus that had harmed her nerves from just below the knee all the way down her toes, disabling any feeling in that leg.

There were scars here and there across all their bodies. She had a couple deep ones on her right leg that Hunk had no idea existed until now, helping her undress her lower half to allow the pod to work its magic without interference.

When Pidge started taking off her shirt, Hunk questioned the need.

"You bruised my shoulder blades," she explained. "You know I bruise easily."

Great, something else to feel like shit about. But, he could apologise later. Right now, he needed to get the hell out of the room until she was done redressed in the proper medical clothing.

"What's the matter with you?" she asked. "I'm wearing a bra."

That didn't matter. That so didn't matter. If he turned around right now, she'd know what the problem was. Even worried about her well being, upset that he'd hurt her, his body still reacted to seeing her so far undressed. Having her see the evidence would be so damning. She'd never speak to him again. She'd be disgusted. She'd think their friendship was over. No going back. No moving on to something else. She'd blame his gender for incapability of retaining their friendship.

"Hey, Hunk... Why are your ears so red?"

Frozen. He had to stay still. If he faced her, she would break off any relationship with him. If he ran outside, the others would tease him. Then, Pidge would find out, and they'd still end up practically strangers except when they absolutely needed to work together.

"Are you... Oh. Oh, I'm sorry! If... If I had known, I would have had you get Allura to help me. I shouldn't have put you in this position. I mean... Uh... How do I dig myself out of this hole again?"

"Look, just get the top on. Keep your underwear on, and I'll help you witht he pants... Just don't get mad at me."

Silence for a moment. "Why would I be mad at you? You're my bestie. But, you're a guy, and I'm a girl, the only human girl out here. It's totally understandable if you're attracted to me."

"Well... you see... I... I was attracted to you before you told everyone you were a girl. Remember, I already figured it out."

"You've helped me into these clothes before."

"That was before you started, ah... developing. Things."

"I'm still the same person."

"You're still way more beautiful now than you used to be." He smacked himself in the face. "Shit. Did I just say that out loud? I think I did. Did I?"

"It's okay. Just... go walk it off or something."

"How did you know?"

"I have an older brother," she said in her best "duh" voice. "Oh, and never mind that there are several other guys we live and work with."

Right. Of course. "Doesn't change the fact that I don't want you to see me like this."

"But you want them to see you like this even less." Pidge deduced.

"Right."

"Well, I accept you for you. And, I need your help. So, please? I won't tell anybody if you don't want me to. Even if you don't help me and go get someone else."

"Really?"

"Really."

Hardly assured, he took a deep breath and turned around. The tent in his pants had gone down a bit, but threatened to come back when he saw that the bra was no-longer present. It wasn't that he saw her naked top or anything. He could see her nipples through the medical top.

"Deep breaths, buddy. You can do this. All I need is for you to support me while I get the pants the rest of the way up."

He kept his mouth shut and his eyes averted as she wiggled around and got herself dressed the rest of the way. On her orders, he scooped her up and laid her down in the pod. Before he could get out of the way and close the lid, she grabbed him by the collar.

Hunk was completely taken by surprise. She leaned up and kissed him. Not on the cheek, nose, or forehead. Nope. Right on the lips.


End file.
